to tbe E P H E S I A N S. 1 35 not Amor amiciti£ to them, a Love of friendfhip, in which he cloth commu~icate S;~ himfelfto them. But, I f<ty, he m.ay have a Love of good-wdl, whtch yet IS the ~ foundation of the other, and wtll m time caufe the other to break forth. And what is the reafon that he bath not a Love of complacency, nor a Love of mutual friendfhip, and that we are not faid to be reconciled to God, till we do believe? Becaule it is not fit for God upon thole terms to communicate himfelf to us to open his Heart, and to unbolom himfelf: but when the time comes, that Love of good-~ill which i1e beareth to us,, will break forth into a· Love of friendU1ip, and he w1ll take us !'nto covenant With htmfelf, and then the kmdnefs and love of God towards Man appeareth, as the Text faith, Tit. 3· 4· _ Fifthly ; I mak,e this Oblervation from hence likewile : That God in his 0bfe.v. ~1 love pitcheth upon Perfons, [For the great love wherewzth he loved [r~<,] faith he: J God cloth not pttch upon Propofinons only, as to fay, I wdllove him who believeth, and Cwe him, (as thole ofthe .ArminianOpinion hold ) ; no, he pitcheth upon Perfons. And Chri!l: died not for Propofitionsonly,butfor Perfons; he knows his Sheep~)'. their Names. 1er.. 3r. 36. I have loved thee with an everlafling Love. And, ~m. 1 r. 7· The EleCir01z hath obtazned zt, and the ref1 were hardened. My Brethren, God loved us di!l:inctly, and he loved us nakedly; let me exprefs it fo in a word. · He loved our Perfons difl:inctly, that is, fingling out, and defigning whom: Not only fo many, I will love fo many of MaAkind, as !hall fill up the places of the Angels that fell, as Come have imagined; but he fees who they are difrinil:ly. The Lord knows who are his; the Text is exprefs: Jacob have I loved, he names him, and EC1u have I hated. "l(ejoyce not, faith Chri!l:, that the Spirits are made jitbjeCI unto;o11, b1tl that JOitr Names are written in Heaven. In Exod. 33· 19. where God faith, I will bave mercy 011 whont I will have mercy, he fpeaks it upon occafion of having peculiar Mercy to Mofes; and therefore the Apollle perti– nently quotes it in Ro'"· 9· for Eleil:ion of Perfons. And fecondly; He loved us nakedly ; he loved Vs, not Otm : It was not (or our Faith, or for any thing in us, Not of Wor~, faith the Apofl:le; no, nor of Faith neither: No, he pitcheth upon naked Perfons ; he loves you, not yours. Therefore here is the reafon that his Love never fails, becaufe it is pitched upon the Perfon, fimply as fuch: I will love fuch an one, let his condition be what it will be; if he f.11l into Sin, I will fetch Sin out off him again, that I may delight in him. The Covenant of Grace is a Covenant of Perlons, and God gives the Perfon of Chri!l: to us, and the Per(on of the Holy-Ghofl: to us; he chufeth our Perfons nakedly and limply as fuch. Laf11y ; All the Attributes in God, they are fubjeil:ed to his Love, and that is Obfc 6 . the great prevailing Attribute tha: [ways all. You fee in the Text, that it [ways erv. ' Mercy ; for the reafon that God 1s merciful to one Man, and not to another, it is becaufe he firfr loved this Man, and not the other. It is Love, I f~y, that is the prevailing Attribute; and what way Love goes, all Atributes go elfe, Mercy and Power, &c. And therefore it is obfervablc, that whenin the firfr Chapter: v. r9· he had begun to fpeak of that Power that wrought m Chrifl:, in raifing him from the dead, and faid that the la'."e power worketh in us; in this Chapter, where he comes to make up the reddmon of hts fpeech, he fhould according to the common courfe have Cud, God bung great m Power, hath q11icltned "'• and raifed "' up together with Cbrifl. No, he mentioneth Mercy and Love, rather than Power, why? becaufe Power is at Love's beck in this. So that here our Salvation lies, that God pitcheth an everla!l:ing Love upon Men; and when he bath thus loved them, if they fall into Mifery, he is merciful, and Love fets that on work ; ifthere be a difficulty, then Love fets Power on work : and fo look which way Love goes, all Attributes elfe go; and ifyou have Love, you have all things elfe in God, they are all [wallowed up in Love. And therefore it is obfervable, that God in a peculiar manner is faid to be Love, 1 1ohn 4· I know not that the like is faid of any other Attribute; and the real'on is this : Becaufe that to one.that he cloth love, he is nothing elfe but Love; fo~ Mercy, and Power, and Ju!l:Ice, and Wifdom, and all, they all work together m a way of fubordination to
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